Show ANTIPROHIBITION Iowa Republicans are Beginning to Hedge SHALL IOWA HAVE LOCAL OPTION I The Democrats are in Favor of It The Reasons Rea-sons they GiveTemperance Crusaders Cru-saders in MissonrL DES MOINES Ia April 2The antipro hibition movement within the Republican party culminated in a state conference today to-day 196 delegates being present representing repre-senting several thousand Republicans Chairman Collins of Keokuk said he had been a lifelong prohibitionist and done all in his power to enforce the law in his city but had failed Other speeches were in a similar vein ExGovernor Kirkwood sent a letter in which among other things he said Personally I favor local option and high license with stringent regulations regula-tions but some of our prohibition friends say if such a change is made the Republican can party will never carry an election in Iowa again That looks to me very much like bulldozing and the Republicans never took kindly to that mode of argument This policy has been pursued for some years by extreme prohibitionists in Reoublican states that have not adopted prohibition and now it is threatened here I has not won in the past and I think it will not in the future Hon O B Cummins of Des Moines presented the report of the committee on resolutions which was received with great enthusiasm The resolutions declare unswerving un-swerving allegiance to the principles of the Republican party as enunciated in the Chicago platform and continue Wo recognize the liquor traffic as one which requires regulation but insist that the object of such regulation should be to minimize imtemperanco and mitigate its evils Experience in this as well as in other states has conclusively shown that general prohibition operating upon all communities without respect to habit conditions circumstances or desires de-sires is not adapted either to suppressing intemperance or promoting morals and therefore the experiment should be abandoned aban-doned and the law so Modified that those communities which desire a chance shall havo the right to determine for themselves whether intoxicating liquors shall be sold as beverages within their limits We are unalterably opposed t any attempt at-tempt t introduce into the constitution consti-tution a doctrine of state doctrne prohibition prohibi-tion The organic law of the state ought not t be encumbered with police regulations of that character Political organization has no just right to bring into its declaration principles or new doctrine unless it be upon which substantially all members agree A large number of the Republicans of Iowa are and always lave been opposed to general prohibition and if the Republican party adheres to the present pres-ent position upon this question it is manifest mani-fest that by such adherence it tend to exclude from membership I al those who believe the policy fatal to the best interest of the state Inasmuch as members are not agreed upon the subject there is obviously but one course which the party can honorably pursue and it is to rigorously exclude from the party platforms plat-forms every reference to it leaving each Republican member of the legislature full liberty t act with respect toit as his judgment judg-ment may direct The experiment of general gen-eral prohibition has been faithfully tried and in many portions of the state it has lamentably failed The Republican party can not I justify further support as a party measure These members of the party holding our views cannot with favor t themselves longer lend their aid to impose upon many communities all the evils of unlicensed unrestricted and unregulated liquor selling For these reasons and in the interest of morality business and social order we ask the general assembly now in session to so amend the prohibitory prohibi-tory liquor law as to give to communities that so desire to act power subject to n minimum license to be fixed by the legislature legis-lature t regulate the sale of intoxicating liquors through tho medium of high license And we insist on such change in the platform plat-form of the Republican party as will enable us to stand honestly upon it and to assist in restoring the party to complete supremacy Local Option in Iowa DES MOINES April 2Tbe prohibition question came up in tho lower house of the legislature this afternoon The Democratic caucus license bill was considered Rich man Democrat said in spite of tho stringency strin-gency of the laws it was plainly to be seen that in some local cities the prohibitory law was openly violated while in others it was observed The Democrats wanted to remedy this condition of affairs and in localities where prohibition is unpopular un-popular they wanted the liquor traffic regulated Accordingly they had prepared a bill to fit the wholo case a bill that would give localities that wanted prohibition pro-hibition a chance to do so It provided for settling the matter of license or no license by popular vote Licenses will be granted only by the district court and then only to proper persons Any one could make a remonstrance against a license and if the remonstrance was considered sufficient a license would be refused the license fee is fixed at a minimum of 300 and that amount is to go to the county in every case while the municipality could exact as much more as it saw fit and one obtaining a license had to Inc a o000 bond i for tho full observance of the laws persons violating the law could bo punished by fine and imprisonment and anyone convicted twice should forfeit all right to obtain a l cense again druggists could keep and properly use liquors under permits Any person not holding a license and convicted of selling liquor could be punished by a fine of not less than S100 After a vigorous debate of four hours the matter went over The Crusaders Missouri KANSAS CITY April 2A Farmington Mo dispatch says This morning the crusaders cru-saders headed by Mrs Williams and Mrs Foster opened the campaign Armed with hammers they stopped Thompsons beer wagon and smashed six barrels emptying the beer into tho street The women then i took possession of the wagon and started for Lassusgo four miles south ivhere a car load of beer belonging to the Klaus II ment Brewery company was sidetracked They intended to destroy all of it The I saloons near here arc expecting a visic from the crusaders |